Archive for Food & Health

I bought a large bag of beautiful, dark red plums from the fruit markets, but when I got home, they turned out to be quite tart. No one was very keen to eat them, so I decided to put together a delicious plum crumble for my family.

The plums were pretty sour, so I had to use a few spoonfuls of maple syrup to sweeten them up.

2. Whiz the flour and butter together in a food processor (with pastry blade) until it resembles breadcrumbs. Toss in oats, coconut, almonds, sugar (if using) and whiz until just combined. Set aside.

3. Chop the plums into chunky slices. Arrange in a large pie dish (25cm diameter). Finely dice the apple and sprinkle on top, along with the vanilla and maple syrup. Give the fruit a good stir with a big spoon.

4. Heap the crumble evenly over top of the fruit. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve hot, with ice cream, yoghurt or crème fraîche.

OK so I woke up one morning and realised that I didn’t have any bread in my pantry for making my kid’s sandwiches!

In fact, I didn’t have much of anything in my pantry! It was one of those weeks. I did have flour, oats, coconut and lots of nuts and seeds though.

So I decided to WHIP UP an ANZAC Slice for my kid’s school lunch box. The recipe is actually for making ANZAC biscuits, but – sheesh – who’s got time to roll them into little balls and flatten them into biscuits?!

I just tipped the whole mixture onto a baking tray (with baking paper) and WHAM WHAM WHAM, I flattened it out with my hands haha.

I didn’t even use a mixing bowl; I just used a large saucepan for melting butter and mixing dry ingredients!

2. In a large saucepan, melt the butter, sugar, golden syrup and 2 tablespoons of water together over a medium heat. Remove from heat. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda. The liquid should froth up a bit.

3. Add in the flour, oats, coconut and pepitas. Stir well until all combined.

4. Tip the mixture onto the baking tray and baking paper. Press the mixture together, and flatten and shape it into a large rectangle (or square) with your hands or using the back of a spoon.

5. Bake for 15 mins or until golden brown.

6. Remove from oven and use a sharp knife to cut into pieces. Allow to completely cool before putting into lunch boxes.

I was invited to the launch of May Street Larder, a brand new cafe in East Fremantle, by the same people who founded the beachside restaurant Bib & Tucker : Eamon Sullivan (the Olympic swimmer) and chef Scott Bridger.

The cafe is focused on clean, healthy eating – right up my alley! Think raw, vegan, organic, paleo dishes with lots of salads and superfoods – but with a few kitchen favourites like slow cooked pork, slow cooked lamb and house smoked salmon. Yum!

They make everything from scratch (or sourced locally) using old-style cooking techniques, like fermenting, pickling and preserving, but with a modern twist. I saw homemade pickles, jams, breads, tomato sauces, sweets, sodas, honey, cured meats and smoked fish.

I turned up to the event early and managed to snap a few photos of the interior before the guests arrived.

The cafe was lovely and spacious! There were lots of tables and seating, and even a little lounge area with a cute couch and lounge chairs for maximum chillaxing.

There was tonnes of natural light streaming in from the big windows, bouncing off the subdue colour palatte and casting a modern freshness into the space.

During the launch, the kitchen offered us a special kind of menu sampler, where we could mix and match various proteins and salads. They had all the food lined up at the counter, we could select what we wanted and it would be piled onto our plate – mess hall style! This is not the usual menu and eating format though.

When it was my turn to choose my food, I apologised FIRST to the waitstaff (which is never a good sign for them, I’m sure)… then I asked them *ever so* politely if I could have TWO plates and if they could arrange TWO meals nicely, so I could photograph them. Or maybe I could arrange it myself? With a spare fork? Could you please get a spare fork for me? Can you put that piece of trout just off the centre of the plate? Can I have THAT potato instead of this one, because that one looks nicer? Oh you put too much green on the plate, it looks off-balanced, could you take some off?

I’m sure she was thinking – CURSE THESE BLOODY FOOD BLOGGERS!

Thankfully Scott, the head chef, realised what I was trying to do, so he cut in and worked his cheffy magic. He plated it up beautifully! Thanks Scott! The dish looked great – balanced, not too fussy, neat but still with an accidental cool to it, haha!

I chose the house smoked trout and some kind of kale salad and root vegetable… Not sure exactly what I had, but it tasted really good! So fresh, tender and “clean”.

This was my second plate. The slow cooked pork and CRACKLING was amazing!!

The roasted veggies were lovely too.

May Street Larder is the first and only place in Perth to offer CocoWhip. It’s made from natural coconut water and a coconut probiotic (that’s it!), and churned into a creamy, silky, smooth, cold, kind of soft serve. It tastes a bit like a mild coconut sorbet, but much lighter, smoother, and with significantly less sugar than any sorbet I’ve ever tasted.

I made a Vietnamese-style rice noodle salad for an Australia Day BBQ with friends! Nothing says Australia Day like a table full of cuisines spanning from all over the globe!

I served the salad with crushed peanuts on the side, as I wasn’t sure if there were kids at the party with nut allergies. I also left out the chilli because I wanted it to be kid-friendly.

There is a LOT of slicing with this recipe!

In fact, there is so much slicing that I wouldn’t have made this salad if I did not have my julienne peelers.

My julienne peelers look like simple potato peelers, and they cut vegetables into fine matchsticks at a quick swipe of my wrist! I don’t think my salad would have looked the same if I had “finely sliced them into matchsticks” with a knife. I don’t have enough patience!

I bought my peelers in Asia (3 different sizes at $3 each). Unfortunately I can’t find any Australian stockists of julienne peelers… so I found these similar Titan Peelers (from the US) which ship to Australia for free – you might have to wait a few weeks for the delivery though! Same goes for these Zyliss Julienne Peelers or Tovolo Julienne Peelers.

This sticky date pudding is an euphoric, eyes-roll-to-the-back-of-your-head-delicious indulgence :)

I have been using this recipe for the last 10 years and it’s an absolute winner every time. It’s so simple to make too.

I haven’t made it the last few year though, because the recipe asks for a lot of sugar, and I’ve been trying to cut back on making super-sweet desserts for my family. However last week I pulled out the recipe from my archives and made it with NO ADDED SUGAR.

It still tasted delicious! Especially when we ate it, hot, with a *small* dollop of ice cream.

I’m not sure where the original recipe came from, as I scribbled it down many years ago.

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Combine dates and water in a medium sized saucepan, bring to boil, remove from heat, stir in the bicarb soda and stand for 5 minutes.

2. Add butter (and sugar, if you’re using it) to the date mixture and stir it until the butter has melted. Blend/process until smooth (I use a hand blender). Leave the mixture to cool for 10 minutes.

3. While waiting for date mixture to cool, grease a 20cm round cake tin and line with greaseproof paper.

4. Beat the eggs into the date mixture, one at a time. Then fold in the sifted flour. Pour into the cake tin and bake for 50 minutes.

5. While waiting for pudding to bake, make the caramel sauce by gently heat the butter and cream (and sugar, if you’re using it), without boiling, and stir for 3 minutes.

6. After 50 minutes, take the pudding out and pour 1/2 the caramel sauce all over the top and put the pudding back into the oven for 10 minutes.

7. Serve the pudding – warm – with the remaining sauce and ice cream!

* I make the whole mixture in the large saucepan. No need to transfer into a mixing bowl – it saves washing up!

* One time I made this sticky date pudding with no added sugar, but smeared a 2 tablespoons of maple syrup over the top as a sweet glaze. I found that it was just enough to add a lovely sweet-stickiness to the pudding.

* By the way, dried dates (even the organic types) are 68% sugar. Even though it’s a natural sugar, that’s still a huge amount. So if you’re trying to cut back on sugar, maybe you should make yourself a banana bread?

I compiled the workout from several lists that were passed around instagram; it seemed that people were tweaking the list slightly (to suit themselves) and sharing it with others. So yep, I took the liberty to tweak it myself too, swapping some exercises with ones that I prefer to do.

Vietnamese food is one of my favourite cuisines in the world. And no matter what the weather is like outside, I just *love* catching up with my girlfriends over a hot bowl of Vietnamese beef pho!

I have a few favourite Vietnamese restaurants that I like in Perth. One of them is called To To, in East Victoria Park.

The decor is modern and quite classy… that is, it doesn’t have plastic tables and chairs, and plastic plants! The place is pretty noisy, cramped and the service is not that great though. During peak hours, you could be waiting outside for 15-30 minutes to get a table too.

But it’s unfussy, quick and easy. And most importantly, the food is pretty great.

Actually, I’ve been coming here for YEARS and I only ever order the Cooked and Raw Beef Pho and Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls… so I don’t know about the rest of the menu!

Friday – Day 12
We left for a camping trip, so I missed out doing exercise for today. But if you count frantically running around, trying to pack camping gear for 5 people for 3 days, then I was burning calories ALL FREAKING DAY!

Saturday – Day 13
Sand boarding, climbing up sand dunes, kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding! We had the best time!

Sunday – Day 14
Played beach cricket and went for a jog on the beach (this was a killer!).

Writing it all down like this has been great for me! It’s nice to know that I’m pretty active each day, yay!

I love cooking simple, fresh, and healthy meals! Using fresh salmon, a couple of ingredients (mostly from my garden) it is one of the easiest dinners that I make. It’s also one of my family’s favourite dinners.

1. Preheat oven to 200C.

2. Rub the base of an ovenproof dish with a bit of butter. Lay the salmon fillets on top.

3. Place lemon slices and slices of butter over the salmon.

4. Throw some vegetables (tomatoes and mushrooms work really well). Sprinkle a bit of fresh thyme or chives on top.

5. Pop into the oven for 13-15 minutes until the salmon is to your liking. I like mine to be a little raw in the middle.

6. Serve with steamed vegetables like baby potatoes, broccoli, long beans and asparagus.

C Restaurant is Perth’s only revolving restaurant. It is 33 stories up and has amazing and sweeping views of the city.

The restaurant was built in the early 80s and has changed its names, management and chefs many, many times. Understandably, with each changeover, the owners have tried to do something different, reach a different clientele, bring in a new eating concept and new menus. So over the years, I have heard many different reviews and conflicting opinions about the place – and I’m sure everyone who has lived in Perth feels the same!

I was invited to try out the new midweek menu, and took the opportunity to have a date night with my husband!

I have previously been to C Restaurant for dinner (about 10 years ago) and for a fashion show (3 years ago). I was very keen to put aside all the reviews I’ve heard, come to it with fresh eyes (and taste buds), and just have a lovely evening with my husband.

We enjoyed a 4 course meal from the Midweek Summer Menu at $99 per person, available Monday-Thursday only. However on the website, I notice that it is now 3 courses for $99.

I’ve looked into some (and tried some) especially the silly ones like – “Get toned abs in 30 days”, “Guns and butt workout for July!”, “6 weeks to shape your booty”… but in the end, I get bored, disillusioned and it’s all a bit disappointing, and I feel lame and stupid that I even thought the results might be instant. Because I know they’re not. So I’ve never really admitted to anyone that I do fitness challenges of any kind!

But just yesterday I’ve been very inspired by the activity happening on Instgram. There’s a few ’24 or 25 day challenges’ happening around the place, where you work through the month of December, leading to Christmas Day.

It’s kind of like a fitness advent calendar.

I think, honestly, I just needed a little spark of inspiration to get me going. Instead of working on my arms, or core, or legs, or butt… I decided that I was just going to do my own thing, my own way. It was a nice idea. It seemed to work for me, and now I’m inspired, motivated and feeling a bit excited for this month.

It’s December 1st today. For 25 days, I’m going to try to do some kind of vigorous exercise each day.

(Feel free to follow my updates on Instagram! You can find me at @karenlycheng)

25 Day Fitness Challenge – Day 1#

Yesterday I set my alarm for 5:30am, with the intention to go for a run. This morning it went off, but I woke up and I felt soooooo bad. I was literally cursing the world, I needed more sleep, and felt like freaking sh*t. What a cheery way to greet the day huh?! I felt achy, I had stiff muscles, sore legs, my neck and shoulders were stiff. I switched my alarm off and went back to bed! Haha! Hello Fitness Challenge!

Ergh, but I felt so guilty. I KNEW that I’d feel like crap for the rest of the day, so I got up at 5:50am, got into my running gear, drank some water and just went out the door. I still felt stiff and sore AND I felt gross for not brushing my teeth. I was in such a foul mood.

But hey, I did it. I ran 5kms and yes, I felt awesome after that!

Tonight I have a netball game. 40 minutes of super fast-paced, action and running. At the end I’m always red-faced, drenched with sweat and feeling sooooo good that I could fly.

Maybe it’s the oxygen in my brain, the endorphins in my nerves, or just the knowledge that I have disciplined myself to do this?

Look what I did on the weekend – I feel so clever! This is the first time I’ve done any kind of lunch prepping… that is, create an entire lunch for myself for the whole week ahead and then freeze them into packs.

I work from home most days; but sometimes I will go out for meetings or run errands, so my lunches are usually very small and spontaneous (like a muesli bar) or hastily put together (left over chicken with a piece of fruit?). Sometimes if I have a big breakfast, I’ll skip lunch and end up eating at 3pm. Or if I eat a small breakfast at 6:30am (because I ate too much the previous evening) I get distractingly hungry by 10am.

So I’m trying to manage my eating portions a little better… starting with these set lunches.

On the menu is grilled ginger soy chicken and mushrooms, with green beans, cabbage and baby spinach.

My biggest mistake when putting these together is that I didn’t have enough containers and I made too much food. So when I distributed the food, my lunch portions were a bit too big – more than I usually eat for lunch!

Also I didn’t have the RIGHT KIND of containers (I’m not a fan of plastic containers, I would prefer glass. Although I do take the food out of the plastic and put it on a glass dish to microwave anyway).

Another factor I was concerned about was getting bored of the same lunch each day? I like soy chicken and mushrooms, but for 5 days in a row? Now that I mention it, I don’t need lunch packs for the weekend, why did I make 7 lunches? I didn’t think it through very well!

The whole thing was pretty time consuming. I had to plan what to eat, buy the ingredients, marinade the chicken, cut and wash the vegetables, wipe down the containers, divide the vegetables, cook the chicken, cut it up and divide it all up, let it cool down, THEN lastly I had to make room in my freezer. Thankfully I had room in there! I actually made 4 more lunch packs for my husband, so I had ELEVEN containers to freeze all together!

It took me about 2.5 hours on a Sunday.

Which if you think about it… is not that bad when you think about how I’ll benefit from it during the week. Right??

I went for a spontaneous run the other morning. It was my first proper run in 8 weeks!!

I pushed myself to run a steady pace and went for 10.5kms – which I’m so happy about. I had no sore feet, knees or muscles – yay!

I ran the distance in 1 hour 5 minutes, but I had to slow down to walk a few times, and I had to stop for water. I ran at an average pace of 6:15/km (that was according to my sports tracker, but mathematically, I think my average should be 6:20?)

Anyway, I’m not too fussed about numbers. It’s a great comeback for me!

I’m aiming to be able to run 10kms without slowing down to walk.

And I’m aiming for an average pace of 6:00/km, which means I should run 10km in 1 hour. Baby steps!

Here’s to feeling like I’ve emerged from a slow rut and feeling fantastic about my health again!

I volunteered for a 2 day cycling charity event, The Ride to Conquer Cancer.

I’ve participated in this event for the last two years and it involves over a 1000 people riding a distance of 200km over 2 days.

For each of the last two years, I have spent about 5 hours of sitting on my ass and pedaling each day! And as I slogged away, part of what kept me going were the cheer squads dotted along the route – volunteers dressed in cowboy gear, pink tutus and Elvis costumes… but the craziest and most entertaining bunch were the Onesie Warriors.

They wore one piece animal suits, sang and danced, cheered, rang bells, hooted and hollered, and got up to all kinds of crazy antics that made us riders laugh and smile when we needed it the most. They made such a big, happy difference to our journey, lifted our moods, and pumped SO much energy and fun into the event.

I remember (during a relentless uphill slog on the bike in the pouring rain) looking at the Onesie crew thinking… where do they get their energy from?? They have been dancing and jumping around for hours! They must be drunk! They must be completely sugared up! They must be pumped full of Red Bull! Were they all fit, young 18 year olds, who are just used to all this raving!?

Anyway, that was the team I joined on the weekend.

There were 12 of us in the Onesie Warrior team, and we split into 3 groups of 4. We positioned our teams at different locations, where the route was most boring (20kms of flat farm land) or most difficult (long, slow, uphill climbs that go on forever) for the cyclists.

I couldn’t even recognise myself. I was doing the most silliest, shameless and stupidest dance moves I’ve ever done in my whole life. And I did it on purpose! In front of people! To make them laugh! In broad daylight!

If you know me in real life, I’m usually very contained, calm, possibly soft spoken and maybe a bit shy. I am in no way a natural show pony. I don’t walk into a room and have a presence that commands people to take notice of me. In fact, I’m striving for a kind of quiet gracefulness.

But once I put on my giraffe onesie, I felt like I had permission to act like an exploding, hyperactive, crazy person!

With our encouragement, all 1311 riders made it safely to the night camp – the half way mark for the weekend.

They did SO WELL for their first day. They rode 105km. There was a very strong head wind blowing against the riders, and I could see them all pushing into it, grimacing in pain with every down stroke of the pedal. I knew their pain! They must’ve been exhausted!

There were a lot of cancer survivors who rode too. They rode with a yellow flag attached to their bikes to distinguish themselves. I thought of my husband, who has survived cancer twice and thought whether he would be able to ride this distance. His health is excellent, but fragile, and shouldn’t really be pushed to this level of exertion. Not to mention he was at home looking after the blessing of our three kids… while I was spending the weekend having this unusual, out of character experience.

I got a bit teary every time I saw a person with a yellow flag that reminded myself why I was here.

In fact, it only took a few minutes of chatting to a complete stranger to find out that every rider had a story or a connection to cancer, and that they were determined and inspired to do something about it. I was constantly teary and inspired!

As for me, I had woken up at 4am that day, started cheering at 7am, had only a few small breaks, and finished my shift at 5pm (to cheer the very last rider to arrive at camp).

So I went to bed at 7:30pm!

The next morning I woke at 4am again, and the weather looked REALLY BAD.

There was a 100% chance of rain, thunderstorms, hail and strong winds. Oh my god! I hoped the wind would be behind the riders and push them along.

For the second day, I was a frog. It was an apt costume for the wet weather. And apt, because my voice was very croaky.

At 6am, I hopped over to the start line and I bumped into these two ladies – Brooke and Sam. Er, well I actually just randomly walked up to them, because hey I’m in a frog suit, and I asked to take a photo with them because their cycling jerseys matched my green costume!

Then our team quickly drove to our first designated spot for the day and waited for the riders to come through.

We waited and waited.

In fact, we waited at the zebra crossing.

When the riders went by, we waved signs like “SAFARI SO GOOD!” and “KEEP THOSE CALVES MOOVING”! And other really bad animal puns.

We placed ourselves in silly positions to wave at the riders. Our chipmunk climbed a tree. Our cows climbed a hill. Our penguin sat on a branch.

I was a squashed frog on the path, but I only took this photo after the last rider rode past haha!

We made our way to several other positions along the route, and then back to the finish line to cheer the last rider through.

We danced and cheered for hours! We were projected up onto the big screen, we were photographed and we were on TV (did you see us?!). It was definitely one of the most crazy, fun and rewarding experience I’ve ever had. It certainly gave me an unusual perspective of the event.

In total, we raised $5.2 million that will go to the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research (used to be WAIMR), with all the funds going directly into cancer research projects. I was choked up with pride and happiness!

A HUGE thanks to all the organisers, the crew, the riders, the sponsors and the supporters who donated!!

I recently organised to go on a double date with some good friends. Our friends didn’t mind where we ate, but I particularly wanted to try out a cool new restaurant in Perth, therefore I was in charge of booking a restaurant. Unfortunately it completely slipped my mind until two days beforehand! Oops!

Every place I wanted to try out was booked out for a Friday night. Or they didn’t take bookings because they are so popular. So I desperately scrambled to find any place with a great review… and came up with: Miss Kitty’s Saloon, serving “modern American/Canadian tapas” style cuisine in Inglewood.

My first thought was: Yay! I got a booking for Friday night!

But my second thought was: OH NO, what’s wrong with this place that they still have bookings available on a Friday night at two days notice!?

Then my third thought was: I hate the name! It just makes me think of cheap steaks, greasy chips, stale peanuts and beer. I’m not a fan of those stereotypical American steakhouses, and “modern American/Canadian tapas” could mean: really small AND expensive serves of chewy steak in barbeque sauce.

When we arrived, the place was fully booked (which made me feel much better about my choice).

I was completely surprised. I loved the weird, mismatched décor. The place had a great vibe and atmosphere, with recycled wood palettes, barn doors, metal drums, random farm equipment sitting around the place as part of the furniture. So I felt better!

But then I realised my next mistake. My friends have special eating requirements! I forgot! One is a vegetarian and the other is on a reduced gluten and carb diet. OMG and I’ve taken them to a Rootin’ Tootin’ Shootin’ Western Texan steak house?!? I felt bad again.

They assured me they’d be fine. They are well travelled and they always manage to find something on the menu that will suit them. But I was almost dying of embarrassment.

With some help from the very well informed waitresses (in very pretty arty-punk Western themed dresses), we de-coded the menu.

We ordered 5 main dishes; with intent of ordering another if we were still hungry. But it turned out that we were full at the end that we didn’t need a 6th main. Having said that, all four of us are light/healthy eaters.

First to arrive was a vegetarian dish, crisp tortilla with spiced tofu, peanuts, lime ($9).

It was so delicious! It was light and fresh. The tangy dressing didn’t overpower the subtle flavours of the tofu and cucumbers. The crisp tortilla was out of this world. It was fried to a crispy perfection, yet it still had a slight softness in the middle.

To be honest, I would have been completely happy to eat just this for my dinner haha!

Oh then this OTHER dish arrived. And I thought… No way. I think I would happily eat JUST. THIS. DISH. FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!!

It was the salmon tostada with avocado, green chilli, orange ($18.8)

The salmon and the vegetables were all wonderfully fresh. The bursts of salmon roe mixed with the orange added a delightful wow to my mouthfuls. Seriously, so yummy.

Personally, I would have never ordered something like this off the menu. Mainly because the combinations sounded much too strange.

But do you know what? The brussel sprouts were marvellous! They must have been fried somehow, because they were crispy on the outside and still firm on the inside. I’ve never eaten brussel sprouts like this before. They didn’t look pretty, but they were yummy and tasted like broccoli. I love broccoli!

The mixture of curry, bacon and yoghurt was so different and well combined. It wasn’t stewy or heavy. It was almost like a stir-fry with a fresh curry flavour. I would definitely order this again.

I think it was a let down compared to our first three dishes. It looked nice, with charred corn bits, baby corn and puffed corn… but it just didn’t have that wow combination. Didn’t think it was worth $14.80 either.

Moving right along.

Ah ha! Finally some meat!

This was the charred lamb ribs with mint, peas ($24.8). It was absolutely delicious! The lamb was soft, succulent and tender. The meat fell off the bone, yet it had these globs of crispy fatty bits along the bone, which were a gorgeously caramelised and crispy.

I didn’t notice what marinade was used, but the flavour wasn’t overpowering, nor was it bland in any way. I could really taste the sweetness and freshness of the lamb.

By the end of the 5 shared mains, I was full, but I probably could have fit in one more dish. However I KNEW I didn’t need it, I knew I would be over-stuffed and feel awful/heavy/bloated if we shared one more main dish.

So I insisted on sharing one dessert between the 4 of us.

We chose the hazelnut chocolate crack, banana ice cream, salted milk crumb ($13.8).
It came out nicely presented, and it hit the spot in terms of sweetness to round off my palate.

The slabs of chocolate were hazelnut flavoured mixed with rice crackles (I think?), which was really yummy. I didn’t like the banana ice cream at all. The white powdery stuff was powdered milk with a bit of sweetness (I think?!). The crumbled chocolate biscuits had a smear of caramel beneath it and it was ok.

Overall it was an OK dessert and as I said, it hit the spot.

Also… I thought I should mention that were sitting in a 4 person booth, and the placing of the ceiling speakers meant that the music blasted straight into our booth and echoed around us. It was pretty loud and couldn’t hear my husband speak from across the table… so we asked if they could turn the music down. I thought they would roll their eyes and huff at us, but they were so cool about it. All the wait staffs were super friendly, cheerful and helpful.

My final thoughts.

You know, honestly, if I had my way with the initial ordering, I would have automatically gone for my top choices – lamb, duck, pork belly, charred beef and octopus. Which meant I would have missed out on the tofu, salmon and brussel sprouts… so I am really glad we ate with my vegetarian friend and that I didn’t choose ALL MEAT dishes.

In the end, the bill came out to be about $30 per head, a very reasonable price for dinner. This included 5 mains, 1 dessert, 2 glasses of wine and a coffee. I’m sure if we ordered more meat dishes (and ate ourselves silly) that would have brought the price up.

I was completely surprised by Miss Kitty’s Saloon. It was nothing like I imagined, and so much better. The food we ate was fresh, light, tasty and delicious.

ALL four of us thoroughly enjoyed the meal. We left feeling really good that we didn’t over-stuff ourselves and very happy about the price and our overall experience.

Wow. So I totally FELL OFF THE EXERCISE TRAIN! I fell down and rolled in between the train tracks, I dug a hole, I made myself a nice home, I put my feet up, and I haven’t moved since!!

Here’s the round up of my last 4 weeks…

Running – Close to none. I think I ran a total of 3km in the whole 4 weeks.

Cycling – none.

Boxing, boot camp, pump classes – none.

Yoga, pilates – none.

Strength, weights, core workouts – pretty much none.

Motivation to start again – none.

There was a point in the last 4 weeks where I was really, really angry, stressed agitated and disgusted by my lack of motivation.

But I’m past that now. I’ve just accepted that I can’t fit everything in. I’m not Super Woman. I can’t do everything. I’m just going to be happy where I am for now. I’m just going to cruise through life and work on what’s more important right now. Why stress about it?

On the up side, I play netball once a week (which is like high intensity interval training yo!) and I go for evenings walks with my family, where I get to hold hands with my husband. That’s real nice.

I’ve found a happy slow place. This is just the current normal.

Later on there will be a new normal, and I’m sure before I know it, I’ll be back to running marathons!

I’ve never broken my arm or leg. I’ve never hurt my knee, or twisted my ankle. I’ve never had a cast or crutches. As a result, I’m very unfamiliar with injuries and what to do with them.

So when I get a minor injury now, I just ignore it… because it’ll just get better after a few days right?

Well, while I was playing netball one evening, I slammed my thumb into the ball at full speed and got this impressive bruise. Of course it wasn’t a bruise to start. It just felt like my thumb had SPLIT IN TWO, THAT’S ALL.

Being the well brought up lady that I am, I held back the “F” EXPLETIVES SCREAMING IN MY HEAD and just turned to my opponent and said, “Ouch, that hurt.”

I played the rest of the game like a one-handed elephant seal, slapping the ball without using my thumb.

I was a bit embarrassed about it after. Silly me. Got an ouchie. Hurt my thumb. I casually mentioned it to my netball team mates, who just said, “Just rice it babe.”

I thought to myself, “Why yes, I’m Chinese. I can subscribe to that kind of thinking. Rice is usually the answer to everything. But surely they don’t mean to eat rice or rub it with rice. So I’m sure it stands for something like “Rub It Carefully Everyday”??

(It means Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation for all you perfectly coordinated people who don’t fall over, like me.)

Anyway, I stumbled along with my sore thumb. I refused to whinge about my pain. I didn’t complain or make a big deal about it. I was secretly all high and almighty and proud of myself. “I DON’T DO INJURIES. Pfft I don’t need ice. Or rice.” I turned door knobs. Held sandwiches. Flipped pancakes. I did all the things that a being with opposing thumbs is destined to do.

But after 3 weeks of pain, I swallowed my pride and asked various people for advice about my injury.

I got no sympathy. Everyone seemed to tease me about how minor my injury was. They told me stories about the MUCH bigger knee, ankle, neck, arm and back traumas they had suffered over the years. And they told me that it was too late for self applied RICE. Apparently, I needed professional advice…

And the advice came in the form of a wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

You see, throughout my research… I heard that a girlfriends’ husband’s friend’s sister… swears that there is a hot-looking, young physiotherapist with “talented” hands, who specialises in netball injuries, who will assess everything from ankle injuries, to ahem, groin injuries… (and presumably thumb injuries?) and who gives excellent RICE. WINK WINK.

Hmph. Thanks A LOT guys.

I’m sure I’ll be fine. I’m sure the pain will just go away after a few days right? It just needs more time to rest. And less netball.

But… is this rumour true? Is this mythical Physio actually real? Is he really talented? Is he really hot? Does he really see all the injured netball girls in town?

I guess I’ll never know the answers to these questions… because I’m *much* too proud to let some Physio-cassanova RICE my ouchie :P

This year the running event celebrated it’s 40th year, but for me, this year was my first time running in it… so I was pretty excited!

However, two weeks before the event, I was down with the flu, fever and dizziness, and it threw my running training out of whack (ie. I didn’t do a training run for 10 days). And it was only the day before the event, that I felt 90% back to normal and I decided I would still run – BUT I had to promise myself to take it easy.

This is my friend Pippa and I, about to run the 12km distance, while our other friends ran the Half Marathon (21kms).

We were pumped up at the start!

Off we set. I took this photo (while running!) as the runners left the starting line and made their way up the first hill. There were 45,000 participants this year!

Have you been in a running event before? I’ve run in a few events. It’s pretty spectacular. There is a very cool and energetic atmosphere in the air. But it is really, REALLY crowded.

I won’t lie. I didn’t like the crowd. As a running experience, I didn’t find it relaxing or therapeutic. It was highly distracting! I spent the whole time looking at everyone’s gear / clothes / shoes / hats / hair / body shape / elbows / calves / backs / bums! I couldn’t help it! It was everywhere I looked!

I was also overwhelmed with a sense of frantic urgency, a feeling that I HAD TO HURRY UP! It felt as if everyone was rushing towards the Christmas city shopping sales and I had to follow the crowd or I would miss out! Or get RUN OVER! DON’T THINK JUST KEEP MOVING!

There were a lot of hills and I quickly found myself a bit breathless and wheezy and unable to sustain a good running pace. I was a bit grumpy that my health wasn’t up to it. I lost Pippa at the 5km mark… and I ended up walking A LOT after that.

I finished the 12km with my slowest time ever!

I pretty much WALKED the distance more than I ran. I was quite embarrassed! Look at me. I don’t even look like I’ve been running. I didn’t even break a sweat. Some of my friends were running a half marathon and I looked like I went for a Sunday stroll haha!

My average pace was 7:06m/km and my overall time was 1:30 – which is pretty slow for me. That pace is like a brisk walk, not a run. Ooooh well. I guess I stuck to my promise of taking it easy.

I looked at my running app and it told me that I had burned 724 calories in the 90 mins. Which was cool and all but…

…we headed off to an inner city pub for drinks and lunch.

I was STARVING. I DEVOURED this lamb burger (611 calories) and chips (252 calories) in 5 minutes flat.

724 calories OUT, and 863 calories IN? Er. I definitely didn’t think that one through very well. Oh well! It was freaking delicious.

When I got home, I had to take a nap. My husband let me take a 2 hour nap, bless him! I was so tired and sore. And for the next few days, I think my health dropped back down to 80%.

Soooo… looking back, I probably should have just stayed in bed, so I could recover that extra 10% in the first place!

I woke up one morning and I was SO SICK OF MAKING SANDWICHES for my children’s lunch. So I found a new recipe and made some very simple cheese and bacon scones. They were so delicious, tasty and soft. I ate two for breakfast. They were just like what you’d get from a fancy cafe, I was soooo pleased.

They really are best eaten hot and fresh from the oven!

I modified the recipe of course, so here’s my version.

Cheese and Bacon Scones
400g of self raising flour
50g of regular butter (with salt), diced and left at room temperature
250ml of milk (I just used low fat, because that’s what I had in my fridge)

3. Put butter and half the flour into a large food processor. Process on low speed until butter and flour are combined and there are no lumps. Pour in the rest of the flour and process again. This took me 2-3 minutes. Or you could do this all by hand. Add the cheese, bacon, milk and mix on low speed until it turns into a dough. Don’t over mix or the scones will be tough and dry!

4. Plop the dough onto a floured bench top and flatten it with your hand to a thickness of 3cm. Cut the dough into squares (looks a bit more cafe style this way!) of 5 – 7 cms. Put the scones on a lined baking tray and brush the tops with a bit of milk.

5. Bake the scones for 15-20 minutes until golden!

Ta da! I also added 1 tablespoon of chopped chives and about 100g of grated zucchini.

The other day, I dropped my aunty off in Subiaco for a doctor’s appointment. While I waited for her phone call (to be picked up), I found myself with 2 hours to spare.

Trying to avoid the mall-type shops on Rokeby Road, I wandered into the local op shop… and bought myself 3 awesome books (total of $9).

Then I found a secondhand bookstore and found another 2 books (total $4)! I was so delighted with my buys, that I needed a coffee and snack to celebrate.

I stumbled across Architects and Heroes, a new cafe that I’ve been hearing about in the local social media circles.

It was my ah ha! moment, as there’s always something magical about discovering a treasure by accident, rather than researching it and then seeking it out with intent.

With a cool mural stretching across the whole cafe, a laid back vibe, the smell of quality coffee, smiles from the staff, lots of seating (indoor and outdoor) and lots of fancy-wacky specialty coffee instruments… this place was a winner for me.

But I just wanted a quick snack, so I settled on a ham and cheese croissant.

My croissant was tasty and fresh. My soy flat white was gorgeous and smooth. My sunny spot by the window made me glow with happiness.

I pulled out one of my book finds – a double edition of The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. Despite initially feeling a bit self-conscious (PRETENTIOUS NERD ALERT!), I stuck my nose into it, became oblivious to the rest of the world and read until I received the call telling me I had to leave.

I’ll definitely be back again to try out some of their meals. And I promise to be a bit more social and bring a friend next time!

It’s not really a group group. It’s not formal. We’re just a bunch of friends (girls and guys) who are all running freaks! We all know each other through our children’s school and we all live and run in the same area, which makes our “group runs” infinitely easier to organise.

Thinking about it, I never thought I’d join a fitness group. Because, I usually like to exercise by myself. I like the peace and solitude. I like to meditate, arrange my thoughts and focus on the mesmerising beat of my feet hitting the pavement. It’s quite important for me to have that quiet space for myself.

Exercising in a large classes – in a room full of strangers – is also very solitary. Which I like. I feel no obligation to interact with anyone. And I just get lost in my own little bubble.

But what do you know, I discovered that exercising with friends is so much fun.

It adds so many new levels to my exercise routine – motivation, inspiration, sharing knowledge and a social aspect. I’m loving it!

Following people’s (ie. stranger’s) exercise updates and fitness inspiration on instagram and facebook does not compare.

Anyway, I tried out a new running route this weekend. The weather was just gorgeous. It was the first time I tackled so many hills. I ran 10kms and felt amazing. I might try to work on my time/speed next time. I’m feeling inspired!

I organised a sort-of birthday dinner for myself with a few of my girlfriends at Nine Fine Food in Highgate. It was only a sort-of birthday celebration, because my actual birthday happened weeks ago. So really, it was just an excuse to have dinner with my girlfriends.

This was the second time that I have eaten here. The first time, I forgot to bring my DSLR camera, and my iphone snaps just didn’t do justice to the food and ambiance. The food was delicious, the price of the meal was great value and I had a lovely experience. So to come here the second time… my mouth was watering with anticipation!

Nine Fine Foods specialises in Japanese cuisine with a kind of modern Australian fusion.

As well as their regluar menu, they have a special set menu called Tokutku (3 courses for $55 pp) or Osusume(4 course for $66 pp). And you can choose from a selection of entrees, mains and desserts. The only catch is that everyone on your table has to agree to have the set menu (but you can each choose your own dishes).

We decided to go with the Tokutoku. And can you believe it, between 5 of us, we all chose similar dishes.

For my entree, I chose the Beef Tataki with fresh herb salad and yuzu ponzu dressin.

I picked up a roll of beef between my chopsticks and dunked it ungracefully into the dipping sauce. Little bits of spring onion, herbs and vegetables were still stuck to it but they added a great crunch to the beef as I slurped it all up. The beef was tender and wonderfully soft. It was delicious! The flavours were a wonderful balance of fresh, tangy, sweet, salty and it was just full of punch.

I really liked this dish. It was already my winning pick of the night!

The soup looked so warm and comforting. I ate this the last time I dined here, and it was my favourite dish. The mix of a crunchy skin layer and soft fish flesh… was just divine.

For my main I chose the Barramundi and Prawn with Barramundi fillet, garlic chili prawns, vegetable pancake, plum miso and chilli sauce.

The fish was very soft and juicy. The prawns were fresh and tasty too.

Although the texture was great, I found the overall dish to be a bit salty and overwhelming to my senses after eating the Beef Tataki. It just had too much flavour, and I felt that I needed to clear my palate with (oh god) some plain white RICE?

I was a little disappointed, but I wouldn’t rate it as a terrible dish. It was just “ok” compared to the other dishes I have eaten at the restaurant before.

I had this dish the last time and omg the duck just fell off the bone and it was amazing. I was thinking perhaps I should have ordered this dish. The mellow warm flavours would have gone a bit better with my beef entree? I also loved the way it was styled, with all the bits and pieces placed around the plate like an artwork.

After my main, I was left feeling a bit… well, I was craving PLAIN WHITE RICE! So to move immediately onto a rich and sweet dessert, kind of threw me off.

I ordered Creamy Tiramisu with Bitter Espresso.

It didn’t look like much. It looked very underwhelming and a bit small.

But once I started to eat it, all was forgiven. It was very yummy indeed. The sponge was perfectly soaked with coffee. The cream and crunchy topping rounded off the dessert and gave me my ice-cream dessert fix. The portion was just right too. Not too little, not too much.

My girlfriends had the Green tea mattcha custard brulee.

I’m not a fan of mattcha, so I didn’t really enjoy my tiny taste of it. I did however, enjoy my grilfriends’ chuckles as they cracked the sugary caramel to reveal the mattcha green colour that makes everyone so excited!

By the end of the evening, I was suitably full. Not stuffed like a turkey. Just comfortable and content from having a good meal and a great chat to my girlfriends!

We had a few Entertainment cards between us, which offered us a discount to our bill. So in the end we paid around $46 each. Which was insanely affordable for a 3 course meal, considering the food and ambiance felt like a fine dining experience.

Would I go again, for a third time? Absolutely. I’ll take my husband and I might even take my kids too, as an introductory to fine dining (without having to worry about whether I’d be wasting a lot of money on food they won’t eat). Plus it wasn’t overly posh or awkwardly fancy. It was dark, intimate and cozy. I really liked it!

Overall, it was good value for money. It’s fine dining, without the eye-watering price tag!

A few weeks ago I shared my sugar-free basic vanilla pastry. This recipe can make two small 20cm tart bases, so you only really need to make HALF the portion. But I actually have a nice flan tin that is 25cms. So I make the whole pastry portion, I use about 3/4 for the tart and I freeze the rest for next time.

1. Dice the apples. Roughly chop the cranberries. Place them both into a heavy based saucepan. Simmer on a medium heat. Give it a good stir every once in a while. Take your frozen raspberries out of your freezer and pour them out onto a plate to defrost.

2. Prepare the pastry. (I think you are supposed to process the butter and flour first. Then add water + vanilla. But I’m not very precious with my pastry.)

I throw all the pastry ingredients into the food processor (with pastry blade) and mix until it resembles breadcrumbs. Let it mix some more until it starts to clump together.

3. Pour the dough out onto your counter top and give it a good knead. 2 minutes is long enough for me.

4. Throw it into the fridge (just in a bowl with a plate on top, why waste plastic cling wrap?) while you clean up your counter top and wash your food processor. I only ever leave it in there for 5 minutes tops.

5. Roll the dough out between one or two sheets of baking paper. Try to get a nice round shape that will fit into your dish.

6. Grease your pie or tart dish with a bit of butter. Place pastry base into the dish. Work the pastry base into the dish so the edges look nice.

7. Your apple filling should be dry and you shouldn’t be able to see pools of liquid at the bottom of the pot. Pour the apple filling into the base and spread it out evenly.

8. Bake for 30 minutes at 180C. Take the tart out of the oven, spread the raspberries all over, and sprinkle with the almonds.

9. Put back into the oven for another 10 minutes, until the crust is nice and golden brown. Eat hot! With cream or ice cream!

It’s kind of fun. A bunch of ladies punching at the air, while a fitness instructor shouts at us over the roaring music. It feels a bit silly.

But after the class, my biceps, triceps and muscles on my shoulders and back GLOW with a pain that promises my arms to look like Michelle Bridges, so that makes it worth looking silly, right?

The last time I tried Body Combat was 10 years ago. I was horrifically unfit and halfway into the class, I wanted to curl over and puke. But this time I am much fitter, so I manage to keep up pretty well.

I go at it pretty hard. There’s no point in doing weak pathetic punches, so I try to give my punches some power.

My coordination is so bad though!

Geez I’m terrible at the steps, the fancy foot work and trying to remember the routines.

I managed to PUNCH MYSELF IN THE FACE during the class! Who does that?!

Right jab, left jab, right jab, left hook, right hook, left upper-cut, right upper-cut… TRICKY RIGHT?

I got my right upper-cut mixed up with a right hook, so I klonked myself in the cheek.

I stood there for a moment, imaging cartoon stars coming out of my left ear.

They seem to like running, and I like running. So it works for all of us.

Basically, I see it as a fun, free and easy way to entertaining the kids (and wear them out), while I get a good workout too haha!

I take them out to random and fun places to run… we call it “training”. I tell them that one day we are all going to run a marathon together in Paris or London. I don’t think they really know what that means, but they like the idea anyway.

While running, or preparing to run, I like to talk to them about running techniques, enjoying the run, working on your own personal best times, setting goals, working towards your goals and doing a little bit more day by day. But I almost never talk about winning.

I feel that I shouldn’t fill them up with false hope or set any unrealistic dreams or expectations.

You see, my kids are short. Like, really short. With short legs. I don’t expect them to win running races.

There are SO MANY kids that are taller, stronger, fitter, and who have longer legs… which give them a huge advantage over my kids.

So when my boys say they want to try out for a running race, or join a running team. I’m so nonchalant and casual about it, I just shrug, “Oh ok. That’s cool. Have fun. Try your best.”

And that’s about all I’ll ever say to them. I don’t want them to have unreasonable expectations that get crushed.

Anyway, can you imagine my utter shock (bordering on disbelief) when my eldest son came home with this?!?

He won first place in his school’s Cross Country event. And he received a Champion Boy medal for Year 6!

Whoa!!

My other son came in 5th place for his year group, which was equally impressive!

I was *bursting* with pride for the both of them!!

They have certainly taught me a lesson… that limits are in the mind (in this case, mine), as much as in the legs. :)